{"id":696029,"date":"2026-05-27T00:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T00:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/696029\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T00:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T00:42:09","slug":"mental-health-association-of-rhode-island-hosts-annual-event-at-state-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/696029\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health Association of Rhode Island hosts annual event at State House"},"content":{"rendered":"

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) \u2014 This is the 110th anniversary of the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island, a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by mental health and substance use disorders.<\/p>\n

They, along with partners, present this annual event to honor those making a difference in this field. And, to share stories.<\/p>\n

“Nobody chooses to have a mental illness, no one. I didn’t decide that I was gonna become a drug addict when I got older,” said Ines Garcia, sharing her story at the Rhode Island State House as part of Mental Health Awareness Month.<\/p>\n

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At this annual event, leaders make a pledge to push harder for more resources that promise to save more lives. (WJAR)<\/p>\n

From those who are rising out of the ashes, like Garcia, to the executive director of the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

“I could not think myself out of my depression,” said Lauri-Marie Pisciotta. “I became severely clinically depressed. I cried myself to sleep every night. It’s hard to explain to someone who’s never experienced that, what that emotional pain feels like.”<\/p>\n

The stories shared at the Rhode Island State House– different, yet the same.<\/p>\n

“More than 200,000 Rhode Islanders live with a mental health condition, nearly half of adults last year who needed care did not receive treatment,” said Rhode Island Congressman Gabe Amo.<\/p>\n

He was among the many advocates and state leaders, who came together to celebrate those who are making a difference like former Rhode Island House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi and Rhode Island state Sen. Linda Ujifusa. <\/p>\n

\"Rhode<\/p>\n

Rhode Island Congressman Gabe Amo spoke at the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island’s event at the State House. (WJAR)<\/p>\n

Karen Jeffreys awarded the Mental Health Hero Award.<\/p>\n

At this annual event, they make a pledge to push harder for more resources that promise to save more lives.<\/p>\n

“Rhode Islanders deserve care they can actually access,” said Amo.<\/p>\n

If you are someone in crisis a good place to start is by calling 988, the crisis and suicide prevention hotline. <\/p>\n

These calls are answered by trained counselors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) \u2014 This is the 110th anniversary of the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":["post-696029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}